Fact Check: Netflix's ‘Adolescence' is not based on a single person or event

Reuters

17-04-2025

The creators of TV drama 'Adolescence' have publicly said their depiction of the world of online misogyny manifesting into real-life violence is not based on a single person or event, contrary to online posts discussing the ethnicity of the main character.
'Adolescence', a four-part British series released on Netflix on March 13, follows the story of a 13-year-old boy who is accused of murdering his female classmate, Katie.
Facebook, opens new tab posts a week later criticized the casting of the protagonist, Jamie, who is white, saying his character was based on a real-life incident in which a Black teenager stabbed a schoolgirl to death in London in 2023.
'Excellent young actor but it was a black boy who killed a black girl,' said one Facebook comment.
Another said, opens new tab: 'They wanted to tell the story but they didn't want to tell the true story?'
The posts include two pictures side-by-side, one of actor Owen Cooper who plays Jamie, and a screenshot of a BBC News report showing a photo of Hassan Sentamu, an 18-year-old who was jailed on March 13 for murdering 15-year-old Elianne Andam in Croydon in 2023.
Netflix and the creators of 'Adolescence' did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
However, the creators have repeatedly said, opens new tab in public since the show's release, opens new tab that the character Jamie is not based upon, opens new tab a single person, nor the storyline a single event.
Co-creator and actor Stephen Graham seemed to reference the Croydon incident, as well as two others, in an interview with the RadioTimes, opens new tab on March 4, when he said: 'Then there was another young girl in south London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop.'
It was widely reported, opens new tab in the UK that Elianne Andam was attacked, opens new tab next to a bus stop. The BBC dedicated an episode, opens new tab of its crime series 'The Big Cases' to 'The Bus Stop Murder'.
But Graham's referencing the case to the RadioTimes was one of the three examples he cited in succession, demonstrating what he described in a different interview as noticing an emerging pattern of young boys perpetrating knife attacks on the opposite sex, opens new tab.
'Where it came from, for me, is there was an incident in Liverpool, a young girl, and she was stabbed to death by a young boy,' Graham told the magazine, likely referring to the murder of 12-year-old Ava White, opens new tab in 2021. Her 14-year-old killer could not be named because of his age, though was sentenced to life in prison, opens new tab in 2022.
Graham continued: 'I just thought, why? Then there was another young girl in south London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop. And there was this thing up North, where that young girl Brianna Ghey was lured into the park by two teenagers, and they stabbed her. I just thought, what's going on? What is this that's happening?'
Brianna Ghey was a 16-year-old transgender girl who was stabbed to death in a park in northwest England in 2023. Two teenagers, a girl and a boy, were given life sentences, opens new tab for her murder.
In an article for The Guardian, opens new tab on March 18, 'Adolescence' writer Jack Thorne said Graham had called him 2-1/2 years earlier with initial ideas for the show, saying he wanted to discuss young male violence towards women.
This would have been before the incident in Croydon took place.
VERDICT
Misleading. The 'Adolescence' creators said the show is not based on a single person or event. One co-creator appeared to reference the Croydon incident in a magazine interview, though this was one of three cases he mentioned in succession to demonstrate his noticing an emerging pattern of young boys committing violent acts against the opposite sex.